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The Supreme Court temporarily halted court orders that would have impacted the availability of an abortion drug. A Supreme Court decision Friday to keep available — for now — the widely used abortion pill mifepristone was met with relief from one side of the debate, disappointment from the other and a vow from both to keep fighting. Maura Healey of Massachusetts called the court’s decision a “victory” for abortion patients and providers. While statements of muted celebration poured in from elected Democrats and groups supporting abortion rights, comment from Republicans and anti-abortion groups was noticeably sparser. Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri, who opposes abortion, said through a spokesman that the decision was a disappointment.

☆ Charles Stanley, Influential Pastor, Dies at 90
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Charles Stanley , a prominent Atlanta-based pastor whose evangelical broadcasts reached audiences around the world, died Tuesday. He was 90 years old. Dr. Stanley served as a pastor at baptist churches in North Carolina, Ohio and Florida before he joined the First Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1969. There, he served as senior pastor for around 50 years, becoming pastor emeritus in 2020.

☆ New box jellyfish species found in Hong Kong's waters -study
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, April 19 (Reuters) - A Hong Kong university team said it has discovered a new species of box jellyfish in the city's Mai Po Nature Reserve, the first discovery of the venomous species in China's waters. Baptist University (HKBU) together with WWF-Hong Kong, Ocean Park Hong Kong and University of Manchester said on Tuesday that the team collected jellyfish samples from a brackish shrimp pond over 2020-2022 and found they contained a new species. Box jellyfish "are poorly known in Chinese marine waters. Our discovery of Tripedalia maipoensis in Mai Po - a relatively well-studied area in Hong Kong - highlights the rich diversity of marine life in Hong Kong and even the whole of China," he said. Box jellyfish, scientifically known as class Cubozoa, includes some of the highly venomous marine animals that are widely known in tropical waters, the study said.

☆ World leaders are lining up to meet Xi Jinping. Should the US be worried?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —Xi Jinping has had a busy couple of weeks. “(Chinese leaders) believe it’s time now for China to make its strategic plans,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Beijing has watched uneasily as the war in Ukraine has driven the US and its European allies closer. When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing last week, Xi drew comparisons between China and France: both “major countries with a tradition of independence,” Xi said, and “firm advocates for a multi-polar world” – or a world without a dominant superpower. But how Beijing navigates these initiatives, observers say, comes down to a bottom line that’s integrally related to Xi’s global ambitions and world view.

☆ The Truth About Clarence Thomas’s Disclosures
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( James Taranto | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Clarence Thomas lost his beloved maternal grandparents barely a month apart in the spring of 1983. Myers Anderson, whom his grandson knew as “Daddy,” died of a stroke on March 30. Christine Anderson , known as “Aunt Tina,” suffered a stroke as well and died on May 1. When they died, Mr. Thomas was 34 and chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Losing Aunt Tina a month after Daddy was more painful than I could ever have imagined,” he writes.

☆ Some new offices are mini towns with their own restaurants, doctor offices, and hotels. Workers actually want to go.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The idea is getting replicated from the Bell Labs location, or Bell Works New Jersey, Keating said. The spaces run by Bell Works' own coworking brand, CoLab, are nearly 100% occupied. At Bell Works New Jersey, Zucker partnered with Toll Brothers to build a 185-home 55-and-over community. At BRIC, tenants can take advantage of a dozen art galleries, some of which show the work of building tenants. A lobby area near offices at Bell Works Chicagoland.

☆ Antiabortion group says appeals court lacks authority to block Texas abortion pill ruling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Alliance Defending Freedom's lead attorney, Erik Baptist, argued in a new filing to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday that the court lacks authority to grant the Justice Department's request to block the decision. His decision is set to take effect a 12 a.m. central time on Saturday if the 5th Circuit does not block it. Baptist made a technical argument that Kacsmaryk's decision to suspend the approval date cannot be appealed to the 5th Circuit under federal law, in contrast to an injunction or a final court decision. He argued the case should continue to play out in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. They called on the 5th Circuit to immediately block the judge's order from going into effect early Saturday.

☆ Expect growth in Asia to accelerate this year, economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailExpect growth in Asia to accelerate this year, economist saysSimon Baptist of the Economist Intelligence Unit says it will be the only major economic region that will see faster growth in the year ahead.

☆ Churches are building tiny homes across the US to help house the homeless
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Churches are working with homeless charities to build micro homes across the US, The AP reported. The homes can be built on spare church land and use existing water and electricity supplies. Tiny homes are becoming an increasingly popular solution to help tackle the homelessness crisis. APWashington-based social purpose company Pallet has seen rising interest in its tiny homes that cost $5,500 and can be set up in less than an hour. Donald Whitehead, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, told The AP he welcomed the churches' moves and regarded tiny homes as a "great emergency option".

Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug. Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case by anti-abortion groups before him continues. By choosing to sue in Amarillo, the plaintiffs ensured that the case would go before Kacsmaryk, a conservative former Christian activist. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a conservative reputation, with more than two-thirds of its judges appointed by Republican presidents. The FDA in January said that the government for the first time will allow mifepristone to be dispensed at retail pharmacies.

☆ Texas judge's ruling suspends FDA approval of abortion pill mifepristone, jeopardizing availability nationwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Michelle Mark | Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling Friday that jeopardizes the availability of a key abortion drug. An antiabortion legal group had sought to revoke or suspend the FDA's approval of the drug mifepristone. In the ruling, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, imposed a stay on the Food & Drug Administration's approval of the drug, arguing that it was unlawful. Revoking the FDA's approval of mifepristone could immediately upend abortion access for countless women across the country. The medication mifepristone typically works as part of a two-medication regimen to terminate pregnancies.

[1/3] Flowers decorate the fence around the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs where 26 people were killed a week earlier on Nov. 5, 2017, as the church opens to the public as a memorial to those killed, in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S. November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File PhotoCompanies The United States Department Of Justice FollowApril 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice reached a $144.5 million settlement with survivors and families of victims of the 2017 mass shooting at a Texas church that killed 26 people, for which a judge had found the Air Force primarily responsible. Wednesday's settlement with more than 75 plaintiffs requires approval by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio. It would end the government's appeal of Rodriguez's order that it pay approximately $230 million over the Nov. 5, 2017 massacre by former Air Force airman Devin Patrick Kelley at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. "No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement.

☆ Evangelicals say Ron DeSantis is threatening religious liberty with his support for a bill that criminalizes aid for immigrants
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A group of Florida evangelicals on Thursday criticized a bill that criminalizes the transport of migrants. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans to make it a felony to knowingly transport an undocumented immigrant, calling it a potentially dangerous infringement on religious liberty. Violators could be charged with a second-degree felony under the bill, which in Florida is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Another church leader suggested DeSantis and other Republicans were playing politics — but confusing evangelical support for the rule of law with backing for punitive measures targeting vulnerable immigrants. It's not the first time religious leaders have clashed with DeSantis, who has styled himself a warrior for the Christian faith.

☆ The Heroes of the Nashville School Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

School buses with children arrive at Woodmont Baptist Church to be reunited with their families after a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, March 27. Monday’s murder of six people, including three 9-year-olds, by a deranged attacker at a Christian primary school in Nashville is another sign of mental illness unleashed. The heroes in Nashville were the police, who were on the scene quickly. With great discipline and courage, they entered the building, ran toward the shots, and killed the attacker once she was cornered. A timeline posted by the Tennesseean says the attacker entered the elementary school at 10:11 a.m., shooting out the glass doors.

[1/2] A vehicle is towed from the property as community members pray while visiting a memorial at the school entrance after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 29, 2023. Security experts said the Covenant School apparently had good safety protocols. It was a grim reminder that any campus could be the target of gun violence, spurring educators around the country to review security protocols and try to reassure parents. Protective measures notwithstanding, Corcoran said the Covenant School shooting exposed how deadly such attacks can be even when school leaders "did everything right." It is not clear that hardening school security always works.

☆ A church fired a worker who raised concerns after finding rats and spiders in the kitchen of its childcare center, the Labor Department said
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Texas church fired a worker who spoke to health authorities about pests in its daycare center, per OSHA. The worker said he'd spotted rats, roaches, and spiders in the facility's kitchen and cafeteria. OSHA ordered New Mount Zion Baptist Church to rehire him and pay him $31,000 in back wages and damages. The next day, the worker was told he was being terminated based on a vote by the church's board, per OSHA. In a preliminary order, OSHA told the church to reinstate the worker and pay him more than $11,000 in back wages and $20,000 in damages.

☆ Abortion pill mifepristone ruling in Texas case could hinge on 1873 Comstock Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A federal judge in Texas may try to invoke an obscure 19th-century law called the Comstock Act to roll back mail delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone. His rationale could hinge in part on the Comstock Act. The anti-abortion group's attorneys argued that the Comstock Act and other laws ban mail delivery of mifepristone. The Comstock Act has not been enforced in decades, said Rachel Rebouche, an expert on reproductive health law at Temple University. Congress passed the Comstock Act in 1873 after an anti-vice crusader named Anthony Comstock successfully lobbied lawmakers to declare "obscene" materials as not mailable.

☆ U.S. judge in Texas will soon rule on the abortion pill mifepristone. Here's what could happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The Alliance For Hippocratic Medicine wants Judge Kacsmaryk to nullify the FDA's medical approval of mifepristone, which would effectively ban the abortion pill across the US. Senate Judiciary Committee | YouTubeA Texas judge will soon issue a pivotal ruling in a closely watched case challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. It's also possible that Kacsmaryk could order the agency to impose tighter restrictions on access to mifepristone but stop short of completely halting sales. Abortion rights groups and legal experts expect the judge will rule against the FDA in some form. Possible injunctionIf Kacsmaryk issues an order to withdraw mifepristone from the market, there are several ways such a ruling could be drafted.

☆ Abortion pill fight: Read the transcript of Texas court hearing on fate of mifepristone
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Abortion rights advocates gather in front of the J Marvin Jones Federal Building and Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, on March 15, 2023. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. Northern District of Texas in Amarillo heard four hours of arguments. The anti-abortion group that filed the lawsuit, the Alliance Defending Freedom, presented their case against the FDA first. They were followed by Justice Department attorneys defending the FDA and then the abortion pill maker Danco Laboratories. The Alliance Defending Freedom argued that mifepristone is unsafe and the FDA did not properly follow its approval process when it cleared mifepristone for use in 2000.

☆ Texas abortion pill case: Lawyers requesting mifepristone’s removal from market concede there’s no precedent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Texas lawsuit has demanded that the judge revoke the FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The group alleged in their lawsuit that the FDA approved an "unsafe" drug back in 2000. During Wednesday's hearing, The Washington Post and Associated Press reported that all parties acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the Alliance Defending Freedom's demand. The attorney representing the Alliance Defending Freedom, Erik Baptist, responded, "No, I can't." Drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol have been thrown into the spotlight ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June.

The plaintiffs accused Ocala of violating the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment "establishment clause," which restricts governmental involvement in religion. Ocala city officials helped organize and conduct the one-hour prayer vigil held in response to a series of shootings in which three children were struck by stray bullets. The city then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal district court will now weigh the plaintiffs' establishment clause claims in light of the football coach ruling. The conservative-majority Supreme Court in recent years has chipped away at the wall separating church and state, eroding American legal traditions aimed at barring government officials from promoting any particular faith.

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ Where Restrictions on Abortion Pills Could Matter Most
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Allison Mccann | Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Abortion providers in the United States A United States map shows the location of abortion providers in states without abortion bans. total abortions Medication abortions 71,700 61,500 58% 37,500 32,100 28,800 29,500 41% 61% 60% 51% 52% Florida New York Georgia Pa. Mich. N.C. N.J. Ohio Wash. Mass. Some ways the ruling could affect the availability of abortion pills A flowchart shows possible outcomes from a judge’s ruling and highlights how abortion pills could remain available under some scenarios. Even if the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, abortion pills could remain available. The foundation’s Wichita, Kansas, clinic sees more than 500 patients a month, many from Texas, and 60 percent choose abortion pills.

☆ Southern Baptists Expel Saddleback Church Over Female Pastor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Adolfo Flores | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Saddleback Church lead Pastor Andy Wood and his wife, Stacie Wood, meet with a congregant in Lake Forest, Calif. The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday expelled Saddleback Church, the California megachurch founded by influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren, and four other churches from the denomination because they had female pastors. The decision to remove or “disfellowship” the churches came after the convention’s executive committee determined that the five churches were “not in friendly cooperation” with the denomination, said Jared Wellman, executive committee chairman, in a statement.

☆ Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. president, is in hospice care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Former President Jimmy Carter speaks to the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia on April 28, 2019. Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 years old is the longest-lived American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, a statement from The Carter Center confirmed Saturday. Jason Carter, the couple's grandson who now chairs The Carter Center governing board, said Saturday in a tweet that he "saw both of my grandparents yesterday. That's a staggering drop from when The Carter Center began leading the global eradication effort in 1986, when the parasitic disease infected 3.5 million people. I would not deserve to be your president," Carter said often as he campaigned.

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